Craft Academy at full capacity for the first time in school's sophomore year

MOREHEAD – For the first time, 120 students arrived at the Craft Academy for Excellence in Mathematics and Science for classes on the campus of Morehead State University.

The academy, a dual-credit residential high school for academically exceptional Kentucky students, opened in August 2015 with the goal of meeting the unique educational needs of academically gifted and talented high school juniors and seniors in the Commonwealth.

A college-level curriculum allows students to finish high school while also completing up to two years of university coursework.

In 2015, 60 juniors arrived as the inaugural class and they were joined by 60 additional students this year which brings the academy up to its full capacity for the first time.

Dr. Carol Christian, director of the Craft Academy says that it was good to launch the school a year ago with one class to kind of fine tune things and get all of the systems, policies and procedures in place before the full capacity.

“It’s been a very smooth beginning, and it’s been an extremely smooth transition for the students,” Christian said. “The growth that we made over the summer just analyzing what we did, what worked, what needed to be tweaked, made this year even better.”

Christian is extremely pleased that more Kentucky students want to attend the academy.

“We had 114 applications last year, we interviewed 97, and we selected 60 from all across the commonwealth,” Christian said. “This year we had 177 applications, we interviewed a little over a 100, and selected 60. But, in reality, we had 270 applications, but some kids submitted their applications being one or two points short of our requirement.”

The academy will offer unique, project-based STEM+X courses that will enrich educational experiences and develop competencies in entrepreneurship and innovation, design and creativity and civic and regional engagement.

Assistant Director of Academic Services Jennifer Carter says that has led to some interesting results.

“I have a couple students working with Dr. Michael Fultz in the biology department and they’re looking a smooth, muscle cell reorganization, and that’s a mechanism believed to control blood pressure,” Carter said. “These students are going to put an experiment on the International Space Station.”

On Monday’s edition of Pure Politics, we spotlight the students at the Craft Academy for Excellence in Mathematics and Science.

Don Weber

Don Weber is a Video Journalist for Spectrum News and covers politics and education on Pure Politics, Kentucky’s only nightly program dedicated to state politics. Don is a lifelong Kentuckian and a graduate of Northern Kentucky University. He spent many years covering sports in the Northern Kentucky area before shifting primarily to politics. You can watch Don’s work weeknights at 7:00 and 11:30 on Pure Politics, available exclusively on Spectrum News, HD Channels 403 and 715. If you have a story idea you can reach Don at donald.weber@charter.com.